


Ghost

by TanteiKID13



Series: Influence [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Also Neville is a fun character, Alternate Universe - Canon, But you can generally assume that this is not what happened in canon, Gen, Not actually AU, so it is AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-04
Updated: 2013-12-04
Packaged: 2018-01-03 10:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1069508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TanteiKID13/pseuds/TanteiKID13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a ghost in Hogwarts.</p>
<p>(This is a lie. There is a man in Hogwarts, and Neville never quite figures out what to make of him.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghost

**Author's Note:**

  * For [J_L_Nevole (Brambleshadow_of_WindClan)](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=J_L_Nevole+%28Brambleshadow_of_WindClan%29).



> J_L_Nevole asked me to write more in this 'verse, so I did. I'm hoping I lived up to their expectations, even though this is a different story than the one I was talking about with them.

There is a ghost in Hogwarts.

Well, that's not quite true. There are many ghosts in Hogwarts, but everyone knows that no one is talking about them when they say the ghost in Hogwarts.

He wanders the halls occasionally and no one has ever seen him interact with anyone.

(This is not true either. He spoke with Neville Longbottom once, at the very beginning of the school year, and he mentioned the Room of Requirement. It's only later when it strikes Neville that the man knew his name before he introduced himself and his need before it manifested. He has a pet theory that the man is the human manifestation of either Hogwarts or the Room of Requirement.

He is wrong.)

The man is a well kept secret. No one is quite sure how he manages it, but the Carrows and their ilk never find out exactly who the ghost of Hogwarts is. They do not hear the whispers and they do not see the man.

It is rumored that the man will come to you and tell you what you will need to know before you know you need to know it. Few believe this, but it is always good to spread hope.

This is true.

As the school year progresses, Neville Longbottom rebels and when he is panicking and wondering where to go, the ghost of Hogwarts comes to him, grasping his hand and whispering, "Run," as he pulls Neville along. He tells Neville in the sort of tone that simply assumes Neville will remember his words, "The lost diadem is in the Room of Hidden Things," and Neville will remember both because of the tone and the fact that the last time this man told it something, it ended up becoming extremely relevant. The ghost leaves him on the fifth floor, dropping his hand and dashing back down the stairs, but Neville knows where to go now. Neville hears the shouts of Peeves and a loud bang goes off, but he never learns exactly what it was.

He hears whispers of Harry Potter, off fighting Death Eaters and dragons and vampires, and he hopes.

He hears whispers of the ghost of Hogwarts and he wonders that people can draw hope from a man they know nothing about simply because the ghost had escaped the Carrows' notice. Neville hears all the whispers as he gradually and quite accidentally builds up an army that is awaiting its battle and then suddenly Harry Potter is there.

Harry Potter is there, and he is fearless and confident and ready.

(Neville is lying. Harry Potter is tired and terrified and he doesn't even have a plan and _this_ is who they've been waiting for?)

He's asking questions and Neville knows the answers. "The lost diadem is in the Room of Hidden Things," he says and they look surprised and ask how he knows. He tells them, "The ghost of Hogwarts told me," and many look even more surprised at that because it makes the legend simply a man.

Neville looks at Harry Potter, and he knows the feeling.

The trio know nothing of the ghost, and so they smile and think he is joking with them. He smiles back and lets them.

Neville sees the ghost a few times during the fight that follows. He shepherds away those who are obviously too young to be there and trips the occasional Death Eater who never seem to figure out exactly what tripped them. He carries away their dead when the time for that comes and the rage on his face is almost palpable and only matched by the sorrow in his eyes. 

Still, no one approaches him; no one speaks to him. Neville does his part and watches the ghost from afar, wondering if he is always so alone. 

When Harry Potter is dead and everything is ramping up once more, the ghost's arrival is heralded by an almost unearthly scream of rage. The ghost (and this is when it occurs to Neville that perhaps he should stop thinking of the ghost as something _other_ and start thinking of him as a man) doesn't even look surprised. 

The man is calm, as if there were no battle and no enemy before him. Neville wonders where the anger and sorrow went but doesn't have the time to ponder it too deeply before he is dodging a badly aimed curse. 

"Doctor," comes the hissed name in a voice quiet enough that if it weren't for the hush that seemed to have overtaken those near the Dark Lord, Neville wouldn't have heard it from right next to the man, let alone the few meters away that he is standing.

There is a certain brutal elegance in how Voldemort dispatches the opponents dueling him at the moment, all so he can focus on the man approaching him with measured steps. “Voldemort,” says the man, and Neville realizes that is where the sorrow and rage went. “You’ve become a very different man.” The man turns and doesn’t bother to defend himself as he walks away. The crowd quickly does it for him, swift in realizing their drama is at an end. 

It is shortly after that that the rebounded killing curse strikes the Dark Lord, and Neville notices the man leave the hall before it really sets in that the Dark Lord is dead; he is shaking, he realizes. He is shaking and the Death Eaters are surrendering and he binds his opponent’s hands after taking the man’s wand before allowing himself to fall to his knees because it is _over_.

Occasionally, Neville wonders about the man who wandered Hogwarts’ halls. The ones who were there, who saw him, understand that there is something that was compelling about the man. The ones who never saw the man call him obsessed with fairy tales. They whisper of the effects of war on children and think he doesn't hear them.

Neville believes he a smart kid. Perhaps not at the level of Hermione Granger, but few were. He reads in his spare time though, and if he one day reads about a man who tells tales that even magic can't make possible, he thinks he understands. He doesn't know if it is the same man who was the ghost of Hogwarts, but it doesn't really matter anyway.

(Secretly, Neville is convinced it will matter quite a lot come the next war because he remembers the effects that even whispers of that man had. He has heard of a growing movement in France of radicals who have decided that the Wizarding World is changing too slowly to ever be just, and he knows the signs when they suddenly stop appearing in the news. Neville Longbottom can be found vacationing in France that summer.)

Almost everyone forgot that Tom Riddle was a sweet boy once. Neville Longbottom was once a revolutionary, and he made sure no one ever quite forgot.

**Author's Note:**

> The next story will explain what the Doctor was thinking during the Final Battle scene.


End file.
